Live Wires Club Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show excitement and enthusiasm as they arrive at the nursery. Staff carefully prepare interesting activities which help children settle into their play quickly. For example, young children play imaginatively with the trains and track. Other children choose to experiment with the teapots and crockery in the water tray. Staff prepare areas for babies to enjoy tummy time and sensory play. Children show they feel safe and content in the nursery. They have good relationships with staff and include them in their play. Staff know children well. They talk to them about their family and know about their home lives. In addition, staff know how to meet children's individual care needs. This has a positive impact on children's well-being and promotes consistency in their care.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They use assessments to identify areas of potential delay in children's learning and create tailored targeted plans to help them make progress. Children make particularly good progress, in relation to their starting points, in their speech and language development. Staff support children to manage their feelings and behaviour. They use praise consistently to help children build confidence and self-esteem. Parents speak highly of the nursery. They say that their children are 'well cared for' and they are 'very happy with their progress'.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Staff provide a varied, broad and balanced curriculum. They plan activities that combine children's interests, stages of development and new topics, which help children make good progress across all areas of their learning. For example, children enjoy learning about the nativity story. Staff provide small figures for children to recall their knowledge through play.
• Babies thrive in the warm, nurturing environment provided by staff. They benefit from consistent routines which reflect parents' wishes. Staff meet babies' care needs very well. They cuddle babies and give them eye contact as they have their bottle. However, staff do not always have enough time to help older babies begin to engage in learning, to prepare them to move up to the main room.
• Staff focus on supporting children's communication and language development to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Children benefit from small-group sessions, stories and singing throughout the day. Staff clearly model new words, such as 'balancing' as children use scales during a baking activity.
• Staff are very good role models for children. They encourage them to be kind and considerate towards each other and support them to manage difficult feelings. For example, staff provide a cuddle and have a quiet discussion to talk through challenges. This helps children to stay calm and learn to manage their emotions positively.
• Children demonstrate very good mathematical skills and awareness. For example, outdoors, children make a wooden snowman and point out large and small pieces. They show pride as they use problem-solving skills to put the pieces in the right order. However, staff do not consistently promote older children's emerging literacy skills to the same high standard.
• Children develop good levels of independence and take an active part in their own self-care. Staff encourage them to put on their own wellies and puddle suits to explore outdoors. Children thoroughly enjoy the fresh air and continue their learning as they play. Staff teach them how to manage small risks, such as safety on the slide.
• The manager and staff team have worked incredibly hard to provide children with good standards of care, learning and safety. The manager provides regular supervisions and supports staff to develop their skills. For instance, staff who work with very young babies refresh their awareness of safer sleeping. Other staff attend 'talk boost training' to focus on children's communication skills.
• The management team establishes and maintains effective partnership working with other professionals involved with children, such as health visitors and speech therapists. Children who receive extra funding, such as pupil premium funding, benefit from one-to-one support and specific resources to help them close gaps in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance learning opportunities for older babies to help them prepare for the next stages in their learning
• build on ways to help older children to further develop their literacy skills.